I was determined to find a way to get a club going and spoke to a friend and
co-worker at the Animal Hospital where I was working about it. Nikki had a ball
crazy Silky Terrier named Rodi so she and I both agreed that we needed to get
involved, so, I talked my husband into making our first Flyball box, and Nikki
got her father to make our jumps. Nikki and I sat down at a restaurant one day to
decide on a club name, if she had her way, we would have been called the
"Flying Purple People Eaters and have Purple shirts, balls, jumps etc...LOLOL!!!
But after some discussion we agreed we would be the Woof Gang with a western
theme. We talked another co-worker, Melinda, into joining us with her Shepherd
mix named Tia, so with Keeper, Rodi, and Tia, we had a team of 3. Although we
really knew nothing about training for the sport back then, we just did what we
could to get our dogs to go down the course, get the ball and come back, it
seemed so easy.... As luck would have it, we were contacted by 2 people from
another club who wanted to join us, Darlene had a Golden Retriever named Lani
and Leona had a lab mix named Batman. The 5 of us trained for awhile together
and entered our first tournament in Las Vegas in 1996 and The Woof Gang was
off and running.
Flyball is a great relay racing, tennis ball catching, K-9 and people socializing
dog-sport for dogs that are absolutely ball crazy Keeper excelled in this sport,
through her years of racing, she was extreemly reliable and relentlessly ran the
course in 4.5 seconds from 1996 up until her early retirement in 2001. Keepers
body broke down at an early age due to a very poor box turn and years of
compressing her spine, several years in the sport has taught us to train a better
turn on the box (for the dogs sake).
Keeper was ranked the #1 Chessie for points for several years, and even held
her #1 ranking for 2 full years after her retirement. She is the first Chessie ever
to earn the Flyball Master title and the first Chessie to earn the Flyball Master
Excellent title in the North American Flyball Association. She wan a special
award at a Touch and Go tournament in Las Vegas for being clocked the Fastest
Female Retriever at the tournament.
Keeper and I also had a lot of fun with Agility, a sport which dogs have to jump
through tires, over jumps, weave through poles, race through tunnels and play
teeter-totter. We trained with Stuart Mah for a few years but due to my inability
to properly work a course with both a right AND left foot, we only got her
novice titles before retiring from the sport altogether and concentrate on flyball.
One of Keepers biggest trademarks is her smile. She has had her smile
plastered all over the web, as well as being used as the logo for a T-shirt for a
club called Brown Dog Central. Over the years her photos have been used in 6
Chesapeake Bay Retriever Calendars. She was also used in a tryout video for a
"Survivor", as she plays a great "Dead Dog" with the command :BANG!" She also
has a Canine Good Citizen certificate.
Keeper has graciously donated blood 3 times to help save the life of someone
else's canine companion. Eleven years old now, Keeper is retired from athletics
and is enjoying her new life as the queen bee couch potato of our household.
Lisa Heitmiller
co-worker at the Animal Hospital where I was working about it. Nikki had a ball
crazy Silky Terrier named Rodi so she and I both agreed that we needed to get
involved, so, I talked my husband into making our first Flyball box, and Nikki
got her father to make our jumps. Nikki and I sat down at a restaurant one day to
decide on a club name, if she had her way, we would have been called the
"Flying Purple People Eaters and have Purple shirts, balls, jumps etc...LOLOL!!!
But after some discussion we agreed we would be the Woof Gang with a western
theme. We talked another co-worker, Melinda, into joining us with her Shepherd
mix named Tia, so with Keeper, Rodi, and Tia, we had a team of 3. Although we
really knew nothing about training for the sport back then, we just did what we
could to get our dogs to go down the course, get the ball and come back, it
seemed so easy.... As luck would have it, we were contacted by 2 people from
another club who wanted to join us, Darlene had a Golden Retriever named Lani
and Leona had a lab mix named Batman. The 5 of us trained for awhile together
and entered our first tournament in Las Vegas in 1996 and The Woof Gang was
off and running.
Flyball is a great relay racing, tennis ball catching, K-9 and people socializing
dog-sport for dogs that are absolutely ball crazy Keeper excelled in this sport,
through her years of racing, she was extreemly reliable and relentlessly ran the
course in 4.5 seconds from 1996 up until her early retirement in 2001. Keepers
body broke down at an early age due to a very poor box turn and years of
compressing her spine, several years in the sport has taught us to train a better
turn on the box (for the dogs sake).
Keeper was ranked the #1 Chessie for points for several years, and even held
her #1 ranking for 2 full years after her retirement. She is the first Chessie ever
to earn the Flyball Master title and the first Chessie to earn the Flyball Master
Excellent title in the North American Flyball Association. She wan a special
award at a Touch and Go tournament in Las Vegas for being clocked the Fastest
Female Retriever at the tournament.
Keeper and I also had a lot of fun with Agility, a sport which dogs have to jump
through tires, over jumps, weave through poles, race through tunnels and play
teeter-totter. We trained with Stuart Mah for a few years but due to my inability
to properly work a course with both a right AND left foot, we only got her
novice titles before retiring from the sport altogether and concentrate on flyball.
One of Keepers biggest trademarks is her smile. She has had her smile
plastered all over the web, as well as being used as the logo for a T-shirt for a
club called Brown Dog Central. Over the years her photos have been used in 6
Chesapeake Bay Retriever Calendars. She was also used in a tryout video for a
"Survivor", as she plays a great "Dead Dog" with the command :BANG!" She also
has a Canine Good Citizen certificate.
Keeper has graciously donated blood 3 times to help save the life of someone
else's canine companion. Eleven years old now, Keeper is retired from athletics
and is enjoying her new life as the queen bee couch potato of our household.
Lisa Heitmiller
Keeper is my first Chesapeake
Bay Retriever. I adopted her at
about 5 months of age and at the
time, I was looking for a dog that
loved water that could be a
wonderful family pet and go
spend time at the Colorado river
with us. We learned immediately
that she was POSSESED by the
almighty tennis ball and playing
fetch with it was her 24/7
obsession. I was watching the
news on TV one morning and
they did a segment on this really
wild dogsport called flyball. I did
some research and found some
people who belonged to a local
flyball club and went to watch a
tournament....well, I was hooked!
Bay Retriever. I adopted her at
about 5 months of age and at the
time, I was looking for a dog that
loved water that could be a
wonderful family pet and go
spend time at the Colorado river
with us. We learned immediately
that she was POSSESED by the
almighty tennis ball and playing
fetch with it was her 24/7
obsession. I was watching the
news on TV one morning and
they did a segment on this really
wild dogsport called flyball. I did
some research and found some
people who belonged to a local
flyball club and went to watch a
tournament....well, I was hooked!
| Ranked the #1 Chesapeake Bay Retriever in NAFA Keeper the First Flyball Chesapeake Champion |
